DEEP-SEA SOUNDIKn. 



235 



the level of the plateau a heiyht of 1G,20G feet (2,701 

 fathoms), a little more than the height of Mont 

 Blanc above the sea-level. 



Accurate soundings are as yet mucli too distant 

 to justify anything like a detailed contour map of the 

 hed of the Atlantic, and such a. sketch as the one 

 here given can only be regarded as a first rough 

 draft. Nothing, however, can give a more erroneous 

 or exaggerated conception of its outline than the 

 ideal section in Captain Maury's ' Physical Geo- 

 graphy of the Sea,' although it is in a certain sense 

 correct. 



According to our present information, we must 

 regard the Atlantic Ocean as covering a vast region 

 of wide shallow valleys and undulating plains, with 

 a few groups of volcanic mountains, insignificant 

 both in height and extent, when we consider the 

 enormous area of the ocean l)ed. 



P-II^ II 1 iHL IIILI \LJ\J H ISH\\ 



